[gothic-l] Weder-Geats

[Tore Gannholm]

Frank,
>From the younger Bronze age Gotland has a needle with a ram head.
Regards Tore


>>   Tore Gannholm <tore.gannholm at swipnet.se> wrote (Subject: Re:
>>Beowolf--the Goth?):-
>> > Weder is a ram. the one year old sheep male. ... The ram is the national
>> > symbol of Gotland. Already in the 13th century it was the official seal
>>of
>> > the Gotlandic republic. You can see it on http://gotland.luma.com
>
>Hmm.  A possibility I had never thought of before (not knowing any
>Gotlanders, y'see . . .;))  But, just off the cuff, how far back before its
>official attestation could we extend the existence of the Ram symbol?  And
>would an Anglo-Saxon audience have known that?  And I think Widsith makes a
>mention of Onela's lake battle that might correspond with Southern Sweden,
>though I know I'm getting some names wrong . . .

Onela's lake battle is probable the Baltic between Gotland and the coast of
Uppland. Part of the land outside Stockholm was below sealevel




>
>>Is there an unusually large amount of sheep-breeding in south Sweden?
>
>I don't know, though I don't think that Gotland is quite South Sweden :)
>
>
>>We also seem to be back at that old query: were the Geats / Gautar the same
>>people as the Goths?
>
>And what's the old answer?
>
>Cheers,
>Frank


You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
Homepage: http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gothicl/index.html